Let the Games Begin: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

Fans of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy weren’t so sure director Gary Ross got it right when he cast Jennifer Lawrence as the books’ surly heroine, Katniss Everdeen. Now, we can stop speculating about how Lawrence will look as Katniss and make up our own minds about Ross’s casting decision. Here she is!

Katniss Everdeen Jennifer Lawrence Hunger Games Entertainment Week

Brown hair? Check. Grey Eyes? Check. Look of desperate intensity that doesn’t obscure her raw beauty? Check. Definitely check.

Jennifer Lawrence Katniss Everdeen Hunger Games movie 2011 Oscars Red Carpet

No doubt, there will be die hard Hunger Games fans who still don’t think that Jennifer Lawrence is right for the part, and when you look at earlier pics of Lawrence, you can’t really blame them. Some say she’s too old to play 16 year old Katniss. Others worry that she’s too polished to play a girl from a mining town who supports her family by hunting illegally. Most, though, just have a picture in their head that isn’t Lawrence. And there is nothing that Ross can do about any of that except makeover Jennifer Lawrence and turn those skeptics into converts.

jennifer lawrence winters bone Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen

There’s something about the way that Lawrence played Ree in Winter’s Bone, though, that should’ve quieted those fears long ago. This woman can act. See that look in her eye? There’s a little Katniss twinkling back there, right? You know you see it.

My reaction to the Entertainment Weekly cover? I think they nailed it, and I predict that by the time of the March premier, there will be no more of gap between Katniss Everdeen and Jennifer Lawrence than there is now between Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliffe. When we see Lawrence not just look like Katniss Everdeen, but bring her to life on the big screen, all those other mental pictures will have faded into the Panem mist.


site stats